'Wood Anemone' by John Clare

'Wood Anemone'

The wood anemone through dead oak leaves

And in the thickest woods now blooms anew,

And where the green briar and the bramble weaves

Thick clumps o'green, anemones thicker grew,

And weeping flowers in thousands pearled in dew

People the woods and brakes, hid hollows there,

White, yellow and purple-hued the wide wood through.

What pretty drooping weeping flowers they are:

The clipt-frilled leaves, the slender stalk they bear

On which the drooping flower hangs weeping dew,

How beautiful through April time and May

The woods look, filled with wild anemone;

And every little spinney now looks gay

With flowers mid brushwood and the huge oak tree.

John Clare (1793-1864)

Wood anemone are key indicators of ancient woodland and only spread around 6 feet in 100 years.